Like a Storm
by Self-san
Summary: He raged inside her head, a whirlwind of thunder. A clash of lightening.


A/N: Mugen, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

><p><em>Prompt:<em> The Color Yellow, Naruto.

* * *

><p>Sanoi blinked, shading her eyes.<p>

It was hot in the Land of Fire, and the noonday sun was shining brightly overhead. It was blistering, so humid that Sanoi was really wishing that she had bought one of those too-expensive fans that the street vendors were trying to sell. Technically, it was tourist season, and Sanoi was smart enough to know that anything anyone would try to sell her would be overpriced and low quality.

The others in the caravan were just eating it up, though.

Sanoi sighed, brushing a piece of hair out of her face and back up under her straw hat. Her umbrella was an unwieldy weight on her back, her clothes sticking to her wetly, sweat gathering at the backs of her knees and inside her elbows.

What had she-?

She blinked again, trying to clear her aching head.

Why had her sister insisted she be here again? Sanoi couldn't remember quite clearly enough to recall the conversation, and, lord on high, wasn't that a scary thought? Something about a haunting? A lost spirit? Whatever it was, Sanoi wasn't worried. It wasn't like it was the first time she had been given a job like this.

Sanoi scratched at her hot cheek and relaxed back against the cool brick wall. She was in a sparsely shaded alleyway, and she couldn't recall how she had gotten there. Had she been driven there? Had it been the too-loud people? The heady, stinking smell of booze and bodies? The excited clamor on the streets as people pushed and shoved to try and see the parade? The large, scary, paper-mache fox that people were attacking, booing, with a frightful intensity?

Aw, hell. She didn't know. And she really couldn't bring herself to care-it was just. So. Hot.

Sanoi's tongue was heavy in her mouth, her throat dry and aching. She looked out into the glare of the bright street, and, once again, she caught a glint of yellow from the side of her eye.

It was a young man, standing down the road, his scarred face frigid, blank, as he watched the passing clamor. His hair was a shock of daffodil colored intensity among the crowd. He radiated-Sanoi tilted her head.

She couldn't feel anything off of him.

_Hmmm_, she thought. _Interesting_.

Observing, she noticed that he was wearing a loose, light green…er, what did they call it? Kimono? Well, whatever the dress thing was called, he certainly looked cooler than her. Still…

Reaching down, she felt for the money she had stashed inside her top and counted out a few yen, just enough to buy two cups of the sweet, cool tea that a vendor was selling nearby.

She paid, thanking the older man quietly, then started her weave through the throng of people. The yellow haired man hadn't moved since she had last seen him.

She cleared her throat when she was a few feet away, cautiously, hoping that she didn't startle him.

He didn't seem to have heard her.

This close, she could see that he had blue eyes, and that, under his dark tan, he was freckled lightly. His hair was long, brushing his shoulders when the hot wind blew slightly.

He hummed like a storm inside her mind, bright, the smell of ozone thick in her mouth, the feeling of him rolling around her tongue sweetly.

She took a step closer, and cleared her throat again. He didn't even blink, his eyes on the crowd.

Suddenly, Sanoi realized that he had a certifiable bubble of space surrounding him on all sides as the people moved, thoughtlessly, to avoid coming too-near to him. It was a miracle in the packed street.

She took a step, and entered that space. His head turned in a snap, his body rolling with the movement as he raised a hand-and stopped, blinking at her slowly.

Sanoi held the cup of tea out before her like a shield, flinching back.

"Er, hello, you…looked like you could use a drink?" she stuttered, stumbling over her words. Her heart pounded in her chest, and _oh_, she wanted to sigh, he felt like _lightening_.

He looked bewildered, and…he seemed to take in her foreign clothing and the band she wore around her arm (proclaiming her a visitor) in a moment.

"Oh," he said quietly. "What?" more quickly, a frown pulling at his thin lips.

Sanoi shook the cup lightly, her fingers cool as it sweated.

"For you?" she tried, motioning for him to take it.

"I…thank you?" he said, reaching out and gingerly taking the drink. He was still looking at her like she had grown another eye.

Sanoi took a nervous drink of her tea, made a face at the taste, and took another sip.

He watched her, and, after a moment, seemed to follow her lead and drink.

He held the cup carelessly in one hand, his other side flush against the wall he was leaning on.

Sanoi was sweating more, and looked at him enviously. He looked like it was a nice autumn day out, and here she was, dying. So unfair.

He still buzzed like a torrent inside her head, but, it was a nice feeling. Familiar. She tried to enjoy it, to block out the rest of the people pressing in around her, trapping her against the wall, their bodies so close that they were almost touching-

"Hey."

Sanoi took a breath, looked down at the large, calloused hand touching her elbow lightly. Looked up into blue eyes that were staring at her, worriedly.

"You alright?" the yellow haired man asked her, his scarred cheeks pulling down as he frowned.

Sanoi swallowed and took another sip of her drink, feeling faint. She thought about lying.

Decided, what the hell, it wasn't like it really mattered.

"No," she said slowly, taking a deep breath. "I'm…going to go find a quiet spot to sit. It was nice meeting you, enjoy the tea and this…whatever this is," she waved an encompassing hand around the street, suddenly so tired she could hardly stand it.

Yellow Storm was frowning at her.

"Er, I know a place you could…" he trailed off, looking awkward.

Sanoi looked him over, had the habitual thought of, _'oh great, is this guy likely to rape/kill/brutally torture me' _that all smart women had when confronted with a strange male and thought, again, what the hell. She couldn't stand to be here anymore-she was going to be sick.

She let him lead her away from the crowd, discarding her drink as she went, through a maze of streets that she couldn't remember the way through, to a quiet park with a convenient bench parked under some shade.

Sanoi sank down gratefully, pulled her hat off, put her head between her knees, and tried to just breath.

Away from everyone else, Yellow Strom was filling up her head with a mind numbing static that drowned out everything else. It was almost, almost, hard to think with. Sanoi decided that she like it. It was…peaceful.

He stood there, silent.

And, though it was still brutally hot, Sanoi found that she felt much, much better.

She raised her head slowly, carefully, to see if she was good to stand. She was, and she slipped off her umbrella and relaxed backwards, patting the seat beside her. Her feet were itchy with dirt, her sandals caked with dust. She wiggled her toes free and sunk them into the scratchy grass.

"Thanks for that," she mumbled, her eyes closed, her head resting on the cool stone backrest of the bench. He sat down beside her and was quiet.

"No problem," he said finally, fiddling with his cup.

They were silent and Sanoi was content to leave it that way when he spoke up again.

"So, are you enjoying the festival?" he asked politely, turning to look at her.

"Is that what this is?" she snorted derisively, cracking her back as she sat up straighter, pulling her hairpins loose, "I thought it was just a convenient excuse to have a city-approved hate fest against something that people feel powerless against."

He looked shocked, and she quickly backtracked, shaking her hair free around her shoulders, her head still aching.

"Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but…" she looked at the pale summer sky, wincing, "isn't there enough hate in the world already? Why do people need to perpetuate it like this?"

He was quiet. Her hair whispered across her sticky cheeks at the slight, hot breeze that blew through the trees.

"I don't like it either," he said finally, his voice low.

Sanoi looked over, and he was smiling at her.

And he shone like the sun.

0

Later that night, when the sun had set and the humidity had gone out of the air, he walked her back to her hostel. It was a nice night, and the moon was gleaming overhead. They stopped before her door and he shifted foot to foot, looking down at her. Even in the dark, his hair shined.

"How long are you staying?" he asked, tucking his hands inside his sash. She could tell he was nervous by the taste of him in her mouth.

Sanoi shrugged, thinking, her teeth practically humming he was so close.

"Oh, a few weeks if I understand it right," she said ponderously, "something about the border and the heat. The caravan leader doesn't want to risk harming the horses."

He nodded, pursing his lips. He opened his mouth. Paused. Closed it. Opening it again, cleared his throat.

"I…how would you like to see Konoha?" he asked her hesitantly, raising a hand to scratch at the back of his head.

Sanoi found herself smiling, the smell of burning ozone heavy in the still air.

"That would be lovely," she whispered, opening her door and slipping inside. She caught a glimpse of his wide eyes and delighted smile as she shut the screen softly and tip-toed to her sleeping mat among the other women.

The storm was raging against her ribs.

0

"You know, I don't even know your name," Sanoi remarked as they stopped for a drink break in the shade of a building. She sipped her tea, watching from the side of her eye as Yellow Storm tensed, then forcibly relaxed. He played with the fat frog purse at his hip, his money jingling.

"It's Naruto," he shrugged his shoulders to settle his light kimono, brushing his hands down his thighs. He didn't look at her.

She tilted her head at the lack of a family name but discarded the thought as quickly as it came.

"Sanoi," she introduced, smiling, holding out her hand.

Yellow Storm, _Naruto_, smiled back, his mouth bracketed by his marked cheeks.

"Just Sanoi?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

Sanoi laughed.

"Just Naruto?" she asked him in return. He smiled and didn't answer.

0

The field was abandoned but Sanoi knew a training ground when she saw one. They lay in the shade, the grass swaying around their bodies as they watched the clouds.

"Hey, Naruto?" Sanoi said, raising a hand up to trace a loose pattern in the air. His silence seemed to ask what, Sanoi?

"This was…an awesome day," she sighed, turning on her side to look at him.

He was smiling, a default expression he always seemed to wear after that first, awkward meeting days before.

"Yeah? I love the Monuments," he said, stretching, tucking his arms under his head. He turned to look at her, and his eyes were as gold as his hair.

Sanoi grinned, flopping onto her back, puffing at her bangs where they fell in her eyes.

"They are certainly impressive, aren't they. I've never seen anything like them." She found herself yawning, and, with her eyes closed, she didn't see Naruto looking at her.

"Yeah…" he said, "Yeah…"

0

He kissed like a virgin, Sanoi thought to herself, her head hazy with heat and desire as Naruto pressed closer to her, his hands framing her face.

She let her hands rest lightly on his hips, breathing through her nose as he tasted her mouth, his tongue peeking out, darting back, growing bolder the longer she stayed still, leaning into him. She swallowed around her dry mouth, and he was so warm against her, surrounding her, that she could hardly think.

He was a storm inside her head, and Sanoi wanted to get lost in it, to forget about the summer day and the sweat gathering down her spine. All she could hear was the howling of the wind in her mind, the whirlpool of thunder and rain that bombarded her from every side.

His hair tickled her cheeks, his hands strangely gentle, hesitant as he moved to touch her neck, to slide down her shoulders, to surround her waist. One hand found her hair and he was pulling it loose, surrounding them in a curtain of brown, mousy locks.

Sanoi realized that she had his kimono fisted in her hands and let go, smoothing it out as he slowly pulled away.

0

"Hey, Naruto, why doesn't anyone talk to you?" Sanoi asked, days later, sitting with Naruto under a tree.

Naruto was quiet.

0

It hit her like a blast of lightening, days later, why her sister had insisted she come to Konoha. And, like a flash, Sanoi was running through the streets, towards the hunk of stone that Naruto had shown her days before.

Her chest heaving, she crouched, her fingers frantically searching, searching…

Sanoi breathed out, quietly and with great remorse, to trace the name _Uzumaki Naruto _on the Memorial Stone of Fallen Heroes.

"Hey."

Sanoi turned, her eyes itching and her throat tight, to see Naruto crouching beside her, his yellow hair shining in the sun.

He looked at her with soft, gentle eyes, and Sanoi fought to breathe.

"You're-"

"Dead?" he asked, his voice low. He was smiling at her, but it was a solemn smile, one full of sadness.

"Yeah," he nodded, still looking at her, "I am."

He leaned over and kissed her cheek tenderly.

"Thank you, Sanoi," he said, and Sanoi closed her eyes, savoring the feeling. She opened them to find him gone, his storm like dust in the wind of her mind.

"Stay Yellow, Naruto," she whispered, standing slowly, her job done.

"Stay Yellow."


End file.
